Apparatus for burning refuse



Aug. 7, 1945. N. T. PUCIZKETT APPARATUS 'FOR BURNING REFUSE .Filed Nov. 19, 1942 INVENTOR. Max 7. Packs;

w M Age/44%;

Patented Aug. 7, vv1945 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE- APPARATUS or. BURNING REFUSE Nick T. Puckett, Indianapolis, Ind, assignor to M. A. Hofft, Indianapolis, Ind.

Application November 19, 1942, Serial No. 466,113 3 Claims. (01. nc-si' The present'invention relates to improvements in methods and means for burning refuse, either forthe purpose of disposing of the refuseor for the purpose of producing heat, for boiler or other power-producing purposes.

The invention relates particularly to apparatusand methods .for burningmaterial having an excessive moisture content and particularly, material which is very apt to mat or packtosuch an extent that it is hard to get suflicient air therethrough during the burning process to cause a the same to be consumed rapidly.

Such material; for instance, are cotton seed hulls, cocoa hulls, bark, sewage sludge, and the like. In the ordinarycommercial handling of certain typesof hulls, the hulls are preferably leached off by soaking in caustic baths, or the like. After the hulls have been leached'from the seeds, the leaching compound and its hulls are drained oil and as much water as is conconstruction. The bridge wall, as is usualin furnaces of this type, is spaced from the top of the furnace the desired distance to prevent the passage thereover of the combustion gases and behind this bridge wall is. provided a combustion chamber divided into a forward combustion chamber 6 and a rear combustion chamber 1 by a preferably secondary bridge wall. The combustion chamber I is provided, with a fiue' opening 8 toward the bottom thereof, which flue opening may, if desired, convey the combustion gases to a suitable boiler or other powerdeveloping apparatus.

venient permitted to drain out of the hull refuse.

SO much Of a furnace as is necessary f0! the purpose of disclosing my invention. 7 As illustrated, the furnace may be of fire brick,

or other suitable construction, provided with a fire pot i in which there is arranged a grate comprising an inclined hearth portion 2 which is preferably formed of fire brick or like material. This hearthhas rather a sharp angle of inclination downwardly and towardthe bridge wall 3.

Beyond the hearth sections, is'a grate section 4, which. may be formed oil-suitable grate bars having the desired interstices therein for the. ad

mission therethrough of {air for combustion purposes.

Preferably, this grate section 4 has a.

The rear wall of. this combustion chamber is preferably sloped forward, as at 9, at a suitable angle and mounted in the top of the combustion chamber, to deliver onto this inclined wall or hearth 9' is an inlet hopper It) provided with a suitable rotatable control drum II. The. material to be burned is delivered through a feed chute I! which communicates, as at II, with the fire pot at the top of the hearth 2 and located at the top of the feed chute I2 is a .worm distributor 13 extending transversely of the chute preferably the entire width of the furnace.

At the bottom of the combustion chamber I is a discharge throat I 4 extending transversely the width of the combustion chamber and having ar+ ranged therein a worm, Orother desired typ of conveyor feed 15, which discharges into a,'con-' veyor chute It provided with a worm feed H or other type of conveyor. This chute extends the entire length outwardly and forwardly of the furnace and discharges into the discharge chute l2 above the worm feed l3.

Suitable air for combustion purposes is admitt-ed through front openings |8, and other inlet openings, as at I 9 and 20, and in addition to these air inlet openings, I provide a means for admitslighter angle of inclination than that of the hearth section .2. is a second grate'section i substantially the same construction a the grate section 4 bu't'having a smaller angle of inclination. The grate sections may be of a construction suchas is illustrated inthe patent to M. ;A. -H0'fit, et al., No. 1,984,344,

issued December 11, 19.34, or any other desiredv Beyond'the grate section 4- l ting heated air for combustion purposes in the form of a conduit 2| terminating in inlet openings. 20 which conduit extends vertically of the furnace and communicates with a horizontal conduit 2| communicating with an inlet opening 22, in turn communicating with the top of the furnace behind the bridge wall 3. A suitable fan 23 may be disposed in the conduit 2| for inducing a forced draft of air and in the end of the conduit2l, I provide a damper 24. This conduit it. opens to the atmosphere and the amount of cold air introduced to the conduit 2| may be controlled .by the damper 24.

In operation, theextremely wet hulls are deposited, through the hopper i0 and the feed control drum ll, upon the rear wall 9 of the combustion chamber. The hot gases of combustion,

in their passage through this combustion chamher, come in contact with these wet hulls, driving ofi a large proportion of the moisture contained in the mass so that by the time the hulls drop on the conveyor l5, they are relatively dry and hot. From the conveyor l5, they are carried to the conveyor i1 and deposited in the feed chute I2 below the distributor worm [3. The distributor worm carries them across the feed chute so that they are fairly evenly deposited through the feed chute on top of the hearth 2. As they feed down on the hearth. they are additionally dried, due to the hot gases and the heat of the combustion chamber, so that,-by the time they are delivered upon the grates l and 5, they are in condition for perfect combustion. It is obvious that a certain proportion of the hulls may become so dried in their passage down the rear wall 9 as to be consumed in the combustion chamber 1. This, however, is not a disadvantage, as itis, of course, the ultimate object to provide for the consumption of the refuse material.

Furthermore, it is observed that all of the hot gases which pass out through the flue B will necessarily pass through the stream of refuse as it moves down into the discharge throat I.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a combustion furnace for handling "refuse, such refuse having an excess of moisture, said furnace having a fire chamber provided with a fuel inlet and having a bridge wall at its rear and an inclined combustion grate extending downwardly and rearwardly from the fuel inlet to the bridge wall, said furnace having a combustion chamber at the rear of said bridge wall and said combination chamber having an outlet flue, said combustion chamber having a fuel feed opening in the top thereof through which the wet fuel is fed into said combustion chamber, conveyor means in the bottom of said combustion chamber for receiving the material fed into the top thereof, said fuel adapted to pass through the products of combustion before said products of combustion pass into the furnace flue to heat the same and have some of the moisture content removed therefrom, and conveyor means for receiving the drier material from said combustion-chamber and discharging the same to the grates of the furnace.

2. In a combustion furnace for handling refuse, such refuse having an excessive moisture content, said furnace having a fire chamber provided 'with a fuel inlet and having a bridge wall at the rear, an inclined combustion grate extending downwardly and rearwardly' from the fuel inlet to the bridge wall, said furnace having a combustion chamber at the rear of said bridge wall having a flue outlet at its bottom portion and having a. fuel inlet in its top at the rear end, conveyor means disposed in said combustion chamber below said flue outlet for receiving the material to be handled after it has been deposited in the top of said chamber and passed through the products of combustion, and means for conveying said material to the front end of the furnace and feeding the same onto the com bustion grates.

3. In a combustion furnace for handling refuse, such refuse having an excessive moisture content, said furnace having a fire chamber, a

' use material into the rear end of said combustion chamber behind said secondary bridge wall and in front of said flue opening, means located at the bottom of said combustion chamber for receiving the material, and means for conveying said material from said receiving means to the inlet opening of the fire chamber and feeding the same to said grate.

- NICK T. PUCKETT. 

